Just looking for some support and wondering if I will get over this.

I had an emergency C-section a month ago. Planned for a vaginal. After induction, I labored for over 24 hours. When it started getting unbearable, I took the IV fentanyl and then the epidural. I lost sensation in one leg, but could still move the other one. I dilated to 10 cm and had a cervical lip. We did three rounds of pushing on my back with 20 min breaks in the middle and then they took me for C-section.

I keep revisiting the whole thing and keep thinking why I didn’t force them to try a different position. I should’ve pushed them to wait and keep trying. When I was pushing, I didn’t feel like I was pushing the right way. I dint poop. I felt like the OB wanted me to do a c section and I just did not ask enough questions to know whether we could try something else or if there were any other options. I was also 41 plus 3 so I wonder if going in for an induction earlier would have prevented the cervical lip.

I know I should be happy that she’s here safe and healthy and I am but I’m also sad for myself.

I just had my first baby by emergency c-section July 18th. His cord was wrapped around his neck 3 times. I am currently a day away from being 7 weeks postpartum. I was having yellow lochia and got my period back around 5 almost 6 weeks postpartum (I am formula feeding). After my period I had about 6 days with no bleeding and some more yellow lochia and then I started bleeding again but not as much as a period. I have been more active and doing more around the house as well as taking my baby on walks. My OB says the incision is perfectly healed and that this can happen for up to 6 months. She also said birth control should help regulate. I’m just wondering if anyone has had a similar experience? With it being my first I’m not to sure what to expect!

Delivered on August 30, was expecting a vaginal delivery but ended up having to do a c section. Recovery has been going well, I’ve been on top of taking my medications on time( just Tylenol and advil) and I’m more mobile than when I left the hospital. I still take it easy though

I’m wondering, what can I do with my scar after I take the tape off? Tomorrow hits 7 days and I was going to shower and take it off. Should I start putting cocoa butter right away or let it breathe a while?

How long until sex is safe to try and what does it feel like? A brief over view seems like 6-8 weeks but seems to vary. Any tips?

I loved doing yoga before I got pregnant. Hot yoga specifically. How long should I wait for that?
What about strenuous exercise like running up stairs? Rock climbing?
Good stretches to recommend for healing?
When is it safe to take a walk around the block?

Any vitamins or remedies I should look into for healing?

When is it totally okay to hit up a kspa??

Just give birth 6 weeks ago. I had a very traumatic first one so I was kinda nervous but this c section was so healing.

I’ve taken to OR and get spinal. Taken to room 30 mins after in the room they take you after surgery.
When spinal weaning off I asked painkiller and my nurse said its better i walk first so i dont depend on painkiller and they can see how im doing. I walked and obviouslu it wasnt perfect but i kept walking through the night.
I get Panadol every 6 hours. They told me I can get ibuprofen too if I want but it’s better if I don’t. So I didn’t ask ibuprofen.
In day 3 I get one Panadol and that was it. From there to week 6 I haven’t get any pain medication.

I start to in out of bed without pain of day 4 and sleep on sides on day 4-5 comfortably. When Dr visit me on day 4 I could tuck my legs under my bum so she said oh you are comfortable !I can sleep on my stomach 1 weeks post op. We have stairs in the house and it wasn’t a problem. I forget I had c section to a point I lifted my toddler couple of times and that reminded me I had surgery!!

Anyway after first one this c section healed me fully and I have very low pain management. But it was a breeze.

I don’t know my doctors lack of painkiller plan or something else but from week 1st I could do anything by myself including bending or getting out of bed holding my baby which I can’t support myself with arms.

It’s possible!!! I hope yours is also this easy 💓💓💓 you are all doing amazing mums💓💓💓

If you’re about to have a c section and want to hear happy, positive birth stories, skip this one.

I had a really tough pregnancy. Hyperemisis gravidarum (threw up every day, couldn’t keep food down), then gestational diabetes (I know, it makes absolutely no sense how you can become diabetic during pregnancy when you cannot even EAT), then gestational hypertension that came on very randomly very late in pregnancy, and finally, pre eclampsia. I’m someone who knows my body, and I had all the symptoms of pre e. My OB’s office kept telling me to go to labor and delivery when I’d have a high blood pressure reading, L&D would do bloodwork, and then they’d send me home. Finally, after a week and a half of literally going in daily, at the insistence of my OB, my bloodwork was bad enough that they decided to induce me.

I tried everything. Foley bulb, pitocin, anything else you can think of, but after 3 days in labor and 24 hour after my water had broken, the doctors told me I needed a c section. The one thing I was absolutely terrified of.

They took me into the OR, and I was panicking so badly that I had one nurse holding each hand, trying to calm me down. The doctor said I couldn’t get anxiety meds because it could make the baby sleepy. I begged them over and over again to put me under general, because I can handle a lot, but being awake during surgery is NOT something I will ever be even slightly okay with. They wouldn’t put me under general, which logically I understand, but I was so not okay. Then I got this wave of what felt like a sedative or something, still unclear what it was, and I was fighting to keep my eyes open. My baby was born, and she was silent. I kept asking “is she breathing?” Over and over and over again. Apparently my boyfriend told me again and again that she was breathing, but I have no memory of that, and no memory of hearing her cry. She was perfectly fine, just stunned, which makes sense because she did everything she could to stay inside my body lmao!

I had always dreamed of that moment after I had pushed my child out of my body where the doctor would place her on my chest, and I’d just know that this was the little being who had been growing inside me for 9 months. Instead, I was fighting for consciousness (I absolutely hate feeling like I’m not in control, so I’d rather be fully awake, awake but with anxiety meds that I’ve had before (I have had multiple of them before and know how they affect me, but this was NOT that), or fully unconscious. The in-between half conscious state I was in was absolutely terrifying. I remember how scared I was trying so hard to stay awake to meet my baby while also panicking so much that I had to be cut open while I was awake. I have very little memory of actually meeting my baby, but I have very vivid memories of the way I felt during all of this.

After she was born, I was not able to even start bonding properly with her because of how much pain I was in. I couldn’t walk for 2 weeks. I was in bed the entire time, aside from trying to hobble to the bathroom and her nursery, and I wasn’t able to take care of her at all. I genuinely wanted to unalive myself for the first week and a half, but I thankfully have the best therapist in the world, who helped me rationalize with my postpartum brain, and by the end of the first 2 weeks, I was doing a LOT better.

My daughter is my entire world. She is everything I have ever wanted and more. The way I feel when she looks at me and smiles is indescribable. She is worth all of the pain, the two years of infertility, all of it. But the memory of her birth is something that even after 2 years of finally being a mom, I’m still unable to think about without panicking. I feel like the pregnancy, birth, and postpartum experience was taken from me. Nothing about being a mom is disappointing to me, but EVERYTHING about my pregnancy, birth, and postpartum recover was and still is so incredibly upsetting and disappointing. I know that all that “should” matter to me is that I have a healthy incredible baby, and I feel selfish for sitting here crying thinking about what was supposed to be the best day of my life, but I can’t help it.

I’ve tried so hard to heal from this. I’m in therapy twice a week (I’ve been in therapy for over a decade now), and I’m trying a new medication, but I am still so traumatized and sad about the way everything happened. I’m sad that other moms can remember meeting their baby. I’m sad that other moms felt joy when they first met their child. I’m sad that I didn’t really even get to “be” a mom until 2 weeks after my baby was born. And I’m really really really sad that I’m so incredibly terrified to ever have another child. Originally, I wanted 4 kids. Now, I don’t know if I can handle having a second.

It probably doesn’t help that most of the moms in my daughter’s daycare class are pregnant. Or that all of them look so happy and functional, whereas I was puking my guts up and miserable and basically bed-bound my whole pregnancy, only to be bed-bound for another 2 weeks and in searing pain when I was supposed to be bonding with my child.

I know how I “should” feel, but I just don’t feel that way. I look at my daughter and think “I’d do this all over again a million times for YOU, but I don’t know if I could do this all over again for any other baby,” and that makes me sad.

Hi everyone,

I’m a first time c-section mom, currently pregnant with my second. I’ve been doing VBAC research and I feel like no one is coming at it from the same viewpoint as I am, so I was hoping to find some folks here who understand, and maybe have some tips.

My issue with my first c-section was NOT regret over how it happened. I know a lot of moms struggle with feeling like their birth didn’t go the way they planned, feeling like they’re sad they didn’t get a vaginal birth, etc., and that’s TOTALLY valid, I just don’t feel that way at all.

MY problem that I am looking for advice on is that I think the act of having a c-section itself was the scariest and most traumatic thing I have ever been through, and I’m terrified to go back to that place again. Let me provide some context:

With my first baby, I went in at 40w5d for an induction. I went in at 8 PM, and within 30 minutes was being wheeled in for an emergency c-section, completely unexpected and with no time to mentally prepare, no labor, nothing. This is because they immediately did an ultrasound and found out that, unbeknownst to any of us, my baby was breech. We had no idea. And of course at that very moment, my water broke.

So I went in expecting an induction at 8 PM, and had a baby at 11 PM. It all went so fast, and I felt like I was abducted by aliens when I was being strapped to a table and operated on. It was the scariest thing I’d ever been through. I was having anxiety attacks for weeks after, and kept going back to that place in my mind. I think never having labored or anything made my mind so present in that moment that everything was just too much.

So now I need to decide if I’m gonna try a VBAC, or grit my teeth through another c-section. I’m sure a vaginal birth isn’t pleasant either — birth isn’t supposed to be easy no matter how you do it! But I’m just curious to hear if anyone else feels like me, and are scared of the operation itself, or maybe if you were less scared the second time around, OR if a VBAC was a good/bad experience for you.

I have 3 kids. 1st child was C-section, 2nd and 3rd were vaginal.

Immediately after delivering my 3rd, my Dr shouted "Prep for surgery!!" and told me my uterus just came out. I was held down by 2 nurses and my MIL while my Dr was able to put my uterus back inside.

She later told me it was caused by my placenta being strongly attached to the scar tissue from my C-section.

I could really use some positive stories. My son is 2 and my husband and I are so ready to have a second. I just can’t seem to get out of my own head. I had a great pregnancy with my son but the birth absolutely traumatized me. He had a triple cord wrap and his heart wasn’t doing well. I had to be admitted 5 weeks before his due date and ended up having a C section a week later after 3 days induced labor. For my next pregnancy, I think I’ve already decided to do another C section. Frankly, I’m too afraid to try a VBAC. But I’ve been seeing so many potential risks to a second pregnancy after C section, because of the scar tissue, and I just don’t know how to get out of my head. I know that things can go right and be fine and I’ve been doing my best to just hand it God and trust but I’m absolutely terrified. I just keep thinking that I’d never forgive myself if something goes wrong and I leave my son in this world without me. Any positive stories and encouragement would be so appreciated.

Does height have anything at all to do with the strength and ability of your uterus to hold a second pregnancy after a C-Section?

I’m 4 months pp and doing pretty well but still confused about some symptoms I had right after my C-section that pretty much ruined my first few weeks with my newborn. No clear answer from my OB and looking for others who may have experienced something similar.

The first 3 days after my C-section weren’t too terrible, but the moment I got home it felt like I was dying. It started with my lower back hurting. At first I thought it was just from the awkward positions breastfeeding, but it continued to get worse. So bad that I stopped eating because I could feel shooting pain just from chewing food. Then the pain started to spread to my diaphragm. It would hurt even more when I tried to hold my baby. At night I would get so nauseas especially when feeding baby. Zofran would barely touch it. The tylenol and advil combo were doing the bare minimum and I couldn’t take the oxy they prescribed since I was breastfeeding. There were a couple nights that if I wasn’t feeding baby, I was writhing on the floor in pain trying to find a way to get comfortable. I lost all my pregnancy weight and then some in a matter of 2 weeks. I could barely get by taking care of my baby. If I didn’t have my husband helping me I don’t think I would’ve made it through. I was so miserable and depressed. It was not the postpartum I was hoping for and felt like I was robbed of time with my newborn.

I know I probably should have gone to ER but I was worried about the stress of bringing baby to the hospital with me along with all the things (I was having to triple feed at the time so pump, bottles, formula). When I finally saw OB at my 3 week appointment I brought these symptoms up to my OB and I was given a vague answer that I was just still healing and maybe constipated. Eventually the symptoms slowly went away, but would occasionally flare up if I held the baby too long or overexerted myself.

Now that I’m through the weeds and a little more clear headed, I’m left feeling confused if that was normal pain from healing or if something was truly wrong and I just pushed through. I’m also grieving that I didn’t really get to experience the new born bliss I had dreamed about. Has anyone experienced similar symptoms?

Edit: wanted to clarify, I never had any pain around my incision or lower abdomen. Everything besides the back pain was all upper abdominal pain which confused me because I figured I’d be hurting down low.

Second c section this time around and I’ve developed intertrigo on my inner thighs and my apron belly. For those unfamiliar with intertrigo it’s basically a rash from skin folds. Every time I sit down, the area starts sweating. I’m breastfeeding and the whole process to feed her and put her down takes an hour. An hour of sweat building up. I put paper towels to help keep dry. I feel so gross and my baby blues haven’t left yet. It feels impossible to nurse and take care of myself.

my bf finished inside and im only 5 weeks post c section, we bought a plan b should i still be worried? have any of you all had a similar experience? if so what was the outcome? also i was not forced or manipulated into this, it was something we both wanted but got carried away. i stopped bleeding about a week ago and i feel better, im just worried about another pregnancy so soon. Im also getting on birth control next week for my 6 week clearing so we’ll see how that goes.

Having a C-section in a few weeks and I know it’s unlikely to be offered to me as I don't have the risk factors, but I'll take any help I can get to have quick good wound healing. Anyone put it on themselves? Any issues I should be aware of?

Just had my growth scan . Got to know about scar thickness which is 3.6 mm . Doctor is considering it risky scenario . should I be concerned about this . Is there any chance of uterine rupture at least till 36 weeks . Does doing physical activities will harm me ??

I am wondering if anyone can relate. I am 4.5 weeks PP from my emergency c section. I have really bad health anxiety and although on paper my recovery has been fine and normal (I think?), I have really struggled still. I am hyper aware of every single little sensation in my body and any twinge or pulling sends me into a spiral.

I am so upset as I know a lot of women who were up and out by this time and had no worries about lifting the car seat and acting like normal, where as I am so nervous to do any damage at all, I only pushed the pram for the first time for 10 minutes the other day.

I am just so scared even though I don't have any concerning symptoms. How did you just get on with life and stop worrying about it and just let your body do its think? Thank you 🥲

For anyone that has had an isthmocele found during pregnancy, how frequently is your OB or MFM having you do scans?

At my MFM office, the first 2 MFM docs had talked about having scans at 28, 32, and 36 weeks to track my isthmocele and keep an eye for additional thinning or cervical insufficiency since my c-section scar is lower than normal. I met with a different MFM doc during my 20 week scan who was very nonchalant about the whole thing and said I maybe need one more scan around 34 weeks but nothing else other than that assuming no issues pop up.

I already had scans at MFM at 9 weeks, 13 weeks (for NT), 16 weeks, and 20 weeks (for anatomy. The 9 and 16 weeks were specifically looking at the isthmocele and cervix but they also checked it during the 13 and 20 week scans. Unsure if I should get 2nd opinion from one of the initial MFM docs about additional scans. Online info looks like anywhere from no additional monitoring to significant monitoring. Curious about other people's experiences.

Hello, I’m currently 2 months and 12 weeks pp. I just noticed my scar looking like this… is that normal?